The time is now! I keep hearing everyone asking how they can fix paintball. I hear everyone is worried about the direction this beloved sport and lifestyle is going. Unfortunately there is no singular fix for this game. The economy is striking at the giants of the game from large manufacturing companies that poured millions of their dollars back into the sport via sponsorships and league support to pro teams stepping down from the pro ranks due to fundage and sponsorships support not being there.
So what can we do to boost our industry and stop the downward spiral we are in? Can we even do something to stop this? The easiest and best thing you can do is get out there and play. Go to your local fields and buy that paint, shoot your friends and bring this game back to where it used to be, ABOUT FUN.
Let us all stop talking about what we can do and actually pull ourselves up off of the couch or desk chair. We are not going to accomplish anything sitting here talking about fixing anything. 
If you do not have any pull in the industry playing at your local fields or in your local tournament series is best thing you can do. This is going to have to be a grass roots fix for this industry. For far too long the focus has been on the big names and the big tournaments across the board, when you saw or heard about paintball it was always “Insert Famous Player Here” running down the snake and bunkering everyone. This is fine as these guys are the inspiration for millions of players but let us all face it the majority of the game is not played on the national level. We are not all star athletes but we are the heart of the game. Recreation players and the weekend warrior in all of us is the fuel that feed this industry.
We have to do something, anything to stimulate this game we all love or we will be sitting around the camp fire talking about what could have been and talking about this game we used to play.
There are plenty of ideas on how to fix the game, more than I will ever even dream about myself. I know the biggest factor at this time is the uncertainty of the economy so people are watching their money a little more. The economy will correct itself, when we the consumer start to relax and spend our hard earned dollars the economy will rebound. 
But do not wait too long my fellow goggle monsters, for the industry is hurting now more than it ever has in the short time the game has been in existence. The game we know is changing more and more each day and in my vision I do not like what I see.
The time is now! Get out, gear up and play. Every little bit you spend helps keep this sport alive. It is now or never to do something. I would rather try to help and fail than to not try at all and see this industry fold.
Your thoughts?
By Paul Forcier
